The Morehouse School of Medicine (M.S.M.) is the primary recipient of Animal Care Services provided to member institutions of the Atlanta University Center (AUC) consortium by the Center for Laboratory Animal Resources (CLAR). In an effort to upgrade Animal Care and/or research capabilities, intramural construction for renovation of an expansion area adjacent to the existing M.S.M. Animal Facilty will commence in June, 1985. Upon completion of the renovation, this space will support a quarantine barrier maintenance facility with three animal holding rooms and an independent air handling system, a surgical suite, six additional general purpose animal holding rooms and a climate controlled food storage room. The objectives in this effort include the following: enhanced assurance of protection from health risks to both animals and humans through barrier separation under conditions involving either immunologically compromised animals or toxicological studies respectively; provision of the environment and the capability for conducting aseptic surgery; satisfaction of the demands of animal population growth; and protection of perishable foodstuffs from deterioration and/or loss of nutrients. Specific health related aims involve, maintaining more control over the health monitoring program and the clinical integrity of our existing colonies of S.P.F. animals, and immunologically deficient or altered strains, and to protect humans and animals from potential biohazards such as chemical carcinogens or pathogenic organisms. Investigators at M.S.M. using primates presently house their animals at Yerkes Primate Center. With the acquisition of additional space and caging CLAR will have the capacity to meet their animal care needs. With the construction and equipping of the surgical suite CLAR can provide more thorough diagnostic & clinical services (wound repair management, exploratory laparotomy) and make available an aseptic surgical environment and the essential expertise for surgical modification of animal models. We presently conduct surgical thymectomies under less than ideal conditions. Our ultimate objective is to obtain accreditation by the American Association for the Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC).